Hampton-Dumont-CAL Boys Basketball falls short against Clarion-Goldfield-Dows

HAMPTON—-- It went down to the final minutes of the fourth quarter, but the Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldogs boys basketball team fell just short of the win in their 63-54 loss to the Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Cowboys at home on Jan. 16.

The Bulldogs led 6-2 early in the first quarter, but Clarion-Goldfield-Dows went on a 9-4 run to take a 11-10 lead with just over 2:00 left. The quarter ended with the Cowboys up 18-13.

In the second quarter, the Bulldogs got the deficit down to three points at 22-19 with just over than 5:00 left in the first half, but the Cowboys responded to make it a 25-19 game. The Bulldogs outscored the Cowboys 13-12 in the quarter to make it a 30-26 game at halftime.

The game went back and forth in the third quarter as the two teams exchanged the lead a couple of times and the game was tied 43-43 after the quarter. The Bulldogs outscored the Cowboys 17-13 in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs found themselves down 48-43 with just over 6:00 left in the game. A dunk by Brady Harr made it 48-45 and another basket by the Bulldogs got the score within one point at 48-47 with less than 5:30 left in the game. The Bulldogs trailed 51-47 late in the game but a free-throw followed by a basket by Caden Woods made it a 51-50 game with 3:08 left. The Bulldogs stayed within one point at 53-52 with 2:40 left in the game  but a couple of clutch baskets allowed Clarion-Goldfield-Dows to hang on as they finished the game on a 10-2 run.

Head coach Brian Niesen said that it was a tough loss for the Bulldogs.

“You have to give credit to Clarion, they made some clutch shots,” Niesen said. “They mad six three-pointers, we made two three-pointers. They banked into two of the three-pointers and that was tough for us. They made a couple of plays down the stretch.”

Niesen said he thought the Cowboys gained momentum in the third quarter and he said one thing the Bulldogs can do next time so they are the time making plays down the stretch is being in the right spot when trying to break the press.

“Everyone is going to have turnovers, but if you are not in the right spot and you are not organized on press break that makes things harder,” Niesen said. “That is something we work on in practice on Friday so hopefully we don’t make the same mistake in the future.”

A positive for the Bulldogs according to Niesen is that  Harr had a triple-double.

“He was fantastic on the offensive end,” Niesen said.

Another positive was the scoring by Woods in the game.

“I believe he had 21 points and those are big time positives,” Niesen said.

Woods led the team with 21 points, Harr had 16 points, 10 assists, and 13 rebounds, Tramaine Horton scored nine points, Aaden Keehn and Connor Miller both scored four points each.

Niesen noted that the team has to do better with three-point shooting if they want to win.

“We are not the best shooting team but we have capable kids,” Niesen said. “There are times where we have hit six, seven, or eight three-pointers in a game. We have to make more than two and we will keep working on it.”

The team’s next game is on the road on Jan. 24. at Clear Lake at 7:30 p.m.